25 watts per 5 gallons is reccomended. Get one that has a control knob. The 7.5 says it is good up to 5 gallons and may be. But I don't think they have an adjustment on them. If a heater is overworked it will have a greater possibility to fail or worse over heat the aquarium. A 25 watt with an adjustment knob is the way to go. I like the freshwater master test kit by aquarium pharmaceuticals. I prefer the reagent type vs. multi test strips. In the long run the set is less expensive. The color cards are easier to read then some others, IMO. It has the vital tests you need pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. The strips ammonia test are sometimes skewed and are not accurate in some instances. It's like a Jr High chemistry set. You can get a small bottle of Prime by seachem or amquel+ ( I use prime, again a price thing you need less to treat more then amquel+, so it goes a long way) even though this is mainly for dechlorination it also removes ammonia and other crap. It can be double dosed to keep very high ammonia in check. Zeolite also helps. Usually just frequent water changes will dilute the water. If you read any of the bio-chemistry articles in the link I gave you you can see how pH plays a factor in the toxicity of ammonia and nitrites. Having well water is nice but you "could" have other issues to contend with. One major factor is pH, not so much for type of fish but it can really mess with establishing a nitrogen cycle. Water parameters will determine What% water to change and how often. After it is established, for regular maintainance IME with smaller aquariums I have found it better to do a smaller% more often, rule of thumb is 25% every 2 weeks minimally. If you have a Bio-wheel then you can change the cartridge part as the directions for it state. If you want to save a little$, make a slit in the blue fiber and dump out the activated carbon and replace it with new from a bulk container. I never had a problem in the past ( when I was a kid) establishing an aquarium. When I decided to start it up again (after 20 yrs.) I had alot of trouble. The city supplied water in the town I grew up in was pretty good quality and all I did was keep buckets of tap water on hand for water changes. I only had one test kit, pH, the litmus(sp?) paper. When that ran out I never replaced it. The only difference was water chemistry everything else I did was identical. The things I am mentioning are not gospel as the only way to do this. However, down the road when you may want to try different fish, live plants etc. it really helps to know how your system works and what is needed to maintain it. The only time I test the water now is if I suspect a problem or it has been a while since the last test. I always test new aquariums until I'm satisfied that they are OK. If Victoria's doesn't have what you need maybe Fredrick's ?? Also, don't get me wrong, I support independent fish stores but the link below can help for some of the things you may need that they can't order for you. Just click on the fish when you get there. Here is a link that might be useful: The good Dr.'s

I am amused to hear there is house envy extended both ways. :P It reminds me of when Mitzi joined us. We were all jealous of all the native flora of Brazil and she said she wished she could grow Tulips. @ Ingrid I am enjoying looking through your blog very much. How fun that you got your cuttings of Mathilde from Emilio Begine himself! I love your photographs, too, especially the ones of the swing flower garden and the shaggy pony by the shore. I think you live in a wonderful place! I am looking forward to reading more - but must work now. :P @ Mitzi I agree with you. I tell people to think of my plants like having another pet. There is a lot of work involved, but it gives you a peaceful feeling to care for them and interact with them.

April, You keep starting new threads so it is difficult to review what advice you have received. Contractor #1 Option 2 is the nicest combination in my opinion. It is a Infinity 2 stage furnace (58UVB)and 2 stage condenser (24APA7). You could consider upgrading the furnace to the 58MVC for about $400 in order to get the middle stage. I still think the 58UVB qualifies for a Carrier rebate. Please check this. I have not heard of a Carrier armour coil. I know the tin plated coil is an improvement of Carrier's old leaky coils. This is the coil I have. The contractor needs to size the equipment by doing a heat loss and gain calculation. This is known in the industry as a Manual J calculation. Have each contractor explain how he calculated the size. I assume the summers in Michigan are not too hot, so the 3 ton unit may be the correct size.

I feel your pain. My kitchen remodel waited a month while I wrestled with such decisions, and it's a small room. Having always lived in houses with a single two-bulb fixture in the middle of every room and depending, otherwise, on floor and table lamps, it had never occurred to me that lighting decisions could be so complicated. I found the topic so absorbing that I've kept reading and thinking about it even though my kitchen lighting is long-since taken care of. Even more so than with other types, the quality and amount of light provided by recessed lighting is determined more by the bulbs chosen than by the fixtures. If you know what sort of effect you are going for, if you can picture the light falling on a surface in a particular way, you can work backwards from there. Is the light direct, arriving at the surface in a direct line from the bulb, or is it indirect, having bounced off of a wall or the ceiling? Is it diffuse and soft-edged, or is it crisp and dramatic like a theater spotlight? Where must the fixture be positioned in order to put the light where you want it? If you can clarify these sorts of ideas then you can home in on the right sort of bulb, and then the fixture choice becomes much simpler. That said, 6" line-voltage cans are likely to be a perfectly workable choice. You could probably get away with 5" with the 10' ceilings, though there seem to be more trim choices available for the 6" cans. 4" would be too small except for accent lighting. I'm not much for DIY TV, so I'm not familiar with Divine Design or the specific lighting you're referring to. If Candice is using these lights to illuminate something on the wall, such as artwork hung there, then I'd guess the lights would be at least a couple of feet out. If the lights are intended to highlight surface textures of the wall, they could be positioned quite close to it.